Baltimore Washington Eye Center, Maryland

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

At Baltimore Washington Eye Surgery Center infection control is an ongoing process and an integral part of the standards for ambulatory surgery centers (ASC's).In November, 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revised the criteria (Conditions for Coverage or CfC) for infection control compliance mandating a formal system for implementing and maintaining a high standard of quality management in infection control.ASC's are required to designate a professional staff member to designate an individual who qualifies for this position through continued education and training.

At Baltimore Washington Eye Center the Ambulatory Surgery Center's Nurse Manager serves in this capacity along with a designated staff member to minimize infection and spread of communicable diseases.According to the CMS, CfC requires that ambulatory surgery centers use two basic standards as the basis for their formal programs:

Provide and maintain a functional and sanitary environment for the provision of surgical services, and

Maintain a formal program to prevent, control, and investigate infections and communicable diseases

At Baltimore Washington Eye Center, we work diligently to ensure not only that our surgery center adheres to the highest level of infection control and monitoring, but the rest of the facility as well.Everyone, including our doctors is engaged in ongoing education regarding infection control through in-service training, mandatory on-line training, flu vaccines, and other training.In addition, surveillance is incorporated into our monitoring, as required by CMS, to ensure compliance by everyone.

We also like to encourage all of our patients to incorporate infection control standards into their daily lives to help reduce the amount of infections and communicable diseases.Hand-washing is the single most important measure in preventing infection.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when washing your hands with soap and water:

Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.